The Greek root word for "prayer" proseuchomai {pros-yoo’-khom-ahee} (appears
85 times in the Greek New Testament) means "to speak to or to make
requests of God - ‘to pray, to speak to God, or to ask God for."

We are commanded to pray in the Spirit.To pray in the Spirit means to line up our minds and desires with the
Holy Spirit's mind and desires, which are consistent with the will of the
Father and the Son.

Read (Romans 8:26-27).

The Holy Spirit helps us in prayer
because we have a weakness.What is our
weakness?

We do not know what we ought to pray for (Romans
8:26).Sometimes, we do not know
what we should pray for; who we should pray for; or how to phrase our
petitions properly.The Holy
Spirit intercedes for us.He
voices our requests to God.He
helps us with our weakness and communicates it to God.God knows exactly what we are trying to
say because the Spirit explains it to Him.

Describe a time when you were
frustrated with not knowing what to pray for.

Once, a dearly loved member of our church (age
89) was on her deathbed.I had a
hard time deciding what to pray for.Should I pray for her to be healed?Or, should I pray for the Lord to take her peacefully?

3.TO
PRAY PROPERLY, WE MUST PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE.

When praying, we can have confidence
that God hears our prayers if we pray according to what (1 John 5:13-15)?

We are to pray according to God's will.If we pray for things that are contrary
to God's will, God will not hear us.On the other hand, if we pray for things that are within God's
will, then we have confidence that God hears our prayers.

What are some things that we can pray
for that are not part of God's will?

She was persistent.Likewise, we should be persistent.If we truly want God to answer our prayers, then we must
continue to ask and never give up.Although God may not answer our prayers immediately, we can still
have hope that one-day He will.

5.TO
PRAY PROPERLY, WE SHOULD PRAY WITH FAITH.

Read (Mark 11:24; Matthew
21:21-22).When we pray with faith,
what is promised in these verses?

When the early disciples needed something, they
went directly to Jesus.However,
since Jesus was about to die, He instructed His disciples to go to God
with their requests and present them through Jesus' name (See also
Colossians. 3:17).

CONCLUSION:

1.Prayer is a great
blessing that we have as Christians.We
are able to approach the Creator of the world and ask for His assistance.

2.It is important that we
learn how to pray properly.

3.To pray properly, we
should

a.Address our prayers to
God the Father.

b.Rely upon the Holy
Spirit to help us with our prayers.

c.Pray with confidence.

d.Pray with perseverance.

e.Pray with faith

f.Close our prayers in
the name of Jesus Christ.

4.I hope your prayer life
is wonderful and is a source of great blessings.